


And Some Mistletoe

by Barkour



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-29
Updated: 2012-11-29
Packaged: 2017-11-19 19:32:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/576854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barkour/pseuds/Barkour
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing like a little mistletoe to bring everyone closer together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Some Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Jack's backstory. The title's from "The Christmas Song."

“Ha!” said Jack. He skipped nimbly left, squeezing along the very edge of the laden pastry table and out of the range of fire if not the elves running wild underfoot. “Mistletoe. Nice try.” 

North gestured expansively across the table he shared with Bunny. “What is after-Christmas party without mistletoe?”

“I’ll tell you what it is,” said Bunny over his eggnog (probably his fifth glass, Jack figured, what with how he wasn’t entirely uptight). “It’s a _relief_. No humiliation.” He stared darkly into the middle distance. 

“You and the Great Oak made such a charming couple,” said North. “Very cute. You should call them sometime, yeah?”

“Very funny,” said Bunny; then he yelped and jumped and sloshed ‘nog all down his front. Snow powdered the floor.

“What!” said Jack. “It wasn’t me. And anyway,” he went on, wagging his finger as he made his way to the eggnog (hey, he was three hundred and change – who’d yell at him?), “you should really pay more attention.”

Bunny laughed. “Ah – like you, eh?”

“Yeah, like—”

North laughed explosively then, cutting Jack off and giving Bunny cause to spill the rest of his glass. 

“Ho ho! Gotcha!” North wiped at his eyes. “Oh, Jack, once more you have played into my hands like putty.”

Jack squinted at North, then, as Phil took a wide detour around the eggnog casket and Jack near by it, he closed his eyes, tipped his head back, and looked up.

“Well, I’ll tell you what,” said Bunny. “I’m not kissing him.”

“Rules of the game,” said North brightly. “You must stay under the mistletoe until some other sap walks beneath.”

“And you better hope it’s not the Great Oak,” Bunny added.

“That’s ridiculous.” Jack waved his hand at them both. “I’m not sticking around to wait for one of the elves to wander over here.” 

He took a step out from the mistletoe, and Bunny, contemplating his empty glass, said, “I reckon you’re just mad somebody pranked _you_.”

“Oh, right!” Jack flicked his fingers up at the mistletoe; the berries peeked, full and white, out from between the spiked leaves. “Like this is a _real_ prank. This is kid’s stuff; it’s—it’s a bear trap for people who still think cooties are real.”

“And throwing snowballs ain’t kid's stuff?”

“There’s no art to it,” Jack snapped, “no spontaneity—”

“I believe that’s up to the kisser,” said North, reflecting. “Great Oak, very spontaneous.”

Bunny slammed his glass down upon the table. “Would you leave off the Great Oak already!”

Jack took another step away from the mistletoe and said, “Besides, I don’t really want to kiss any of you old-timers.”

A flurry, as of a heart thrumming, and a heavy, sweet scent like rain in a wet forest preceded the next guest, and when, a moment later, Tooth swept in through the door, Jack had already turned on his heel. Her feathers had fluffed. A crown of yellow undergrowth showed around her head.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” she gushed. “Work, work, work, you know how it is. Teeth wait for no fairy! Oh!” She brightened. “Hello, Jack! You’re already here!”

He stepped forward. “Yeah. Was it—” He cleared his throat, rubbing the backs of his fingers over his mouth. “Did you have a tough time getting off from work?” 

Should’ve worn his hoodie. Bad idea, wearing the t-shirt. “Girls love tight t-shirts,” Jamie had said, but Jamie was eight, so what did he know?

“Oh, just the usual.” She shrugged and smiled, the feathers so bright along her face sleeking. Her feet, so very small, tucked up behind her, and the stuttering of her wings quickened. “But you have to make sure to leave some room for fun. Don’t you?”

“Uh,” said Jack. “Yeah, you should definitely do that, would be good. Hey.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder and moved closer. “Did you want some eggnog?”

“Oh, well, if you’re asking,” said Tooth, then she clapped her fingertips to her mouth and giggled. “I mean, if you insist. Oh!” She slapped her hands to either side of her face. “Professionalism, girls!” But she had entered alone.

All right, thought Jack; so the t-shirt had been a great idea.

“Well, if you wanted some…” He turned slightly, gesturing.

Tooth darted forward. She glimmered; in the lights strung all across the ceiling, tiny twinkling lights like stars, she flashed all over in green and red and violet and there, showing like a woman’s sock from under her skirt, a trace of yellow again. His nerve failed. Jack ducked and made to step back.

Then Tooth stuck one delicate foot before her and drew her shoulders back; her wings blurred; she stopped, right there, her face above his and her eyes so very huge and so very violet and so very, very close.

“Well,” she said in a quick-running voice, “it _is_ traditional in some places. Like here. And I do want some. To. Want to.”

“Want what?” Jack said; or he would have said it if she hadn’t bent down, her neck twisting, and kissed him. The brush of her lips was like the sweep of feathers along his brow, his nose. It itched more than anything else; but she was warm, she was very warm, and the way her wings hummed made his chest knot up and turn over.

She withdrew. Jack’s eyes fluttered open. Tooth was smoothing her feathers down her sides and saying, “Central incisor, lateral incisor, oh, is that the eggnog?”

Jack tried for her mouth. But the wind beneath his feet was too strong or he misjudged the distance; whatever the reason, he caught her nose instead. Rather, he mashed against it. He felt the very tip of her long, lean nose between his teeth. He’d died once. He supposed he could do it again.

Tooth squeaked and tossed her hands up; she caught his throat with her right hand and his jaw with her left. Her eyes went huge. The feather-like fan of her eyelashes sprayed wide.

“Oh, _Jack_ ,” she said, and then she descended like a raptor on its prey. Was he okay with that? Yeah. He was pretty okay with that.

“Suckers,” said North, satisfied.

“If she licks his teeth, I’m outta here,” said Bunny.

**Author's Note:**

> (Sandy's late, too.)


End file.
